equal number of peltasts, and some cavalry--the latter to consist of the horsemen of Spithridates, the Paphlagonians, and as many Hellene troopers as he might perchance persuade to follow him. Having got the promise of them from Agesilaus, he proceeded to take the auspices. Towards late afternoon he obtained favourable omens and broke off the sacrifice. Thereupon he ordered the troops to get their evening meal, after which they were to present themselves in front of the camp. But by the time darkness had closed in, not one half of them had come out. To abandon the project was to call down the ridicule of the rest of the Thirty. So he set out with the force to hand, and about daylight, falling on the camp of Pharnabazus, put many of his advanced guard of Mysians to the sword. The men themselves made good their escape in different directions, but the camp was taken, and with it divers goblets and other gear such as a man like Pharnabazus would have, not to speak of much baggage and many baggage animals. It was the dread of being surrounded and besieged, if he should establish himself for long at any one spot, which induced Pharnabazus to flee in gipsy fashion from point to point over the country, carefully obliterating his encampments. Now as the Paphlagonians and Spithridates brought back the captured property, they were met by Herippidas with his brigadiers and captains, who stopped them and[7] relieved them of all they had; the object being to have as large a list as possible of captures to deliver over to the officers who superintended the sale of booty.[8] This treatment the Asiatics found intolerable. They deemed themselves at once injured and insulted, got their kit together in the night, and made off in the direction of Sardis to join Ariaeus without mistrust, seeing that he too had revolted and gone to war with the king. On Agesilaus himself no heavier blow fell during the whole campaign than the desertion of Spithridates and Megabates and the Paphlagonians.
[6] Lit. 'one hundred and sixty stades.'
[7] Or, 'captains posted to intercept them, who relieved . . .' See 'Anab.' IV. i. 14.
[8] See 'Pol. Lac.' xiii. 11, for these officers.
Now there was a certain man of Cyzicus, Apollophanes by name; he was an old friend of Pharnabazus, and at this time had become a friend also of Agesilaus.[9] This man informed Agesilaus that he thought he could bring about a meeting between him and Pharnabazus, which might tend to friendship; and having so got ear of him, he obtained pledges of good faith between his two friends, and presented himself with Pharnabazus at the trysting- place, where Agesilaus with the Thirty around him awaited their coming, reclined upon a grassy sward. Pharnabazus presently arrived clad in costliest apparel; but just as his attendants were about to spread at his feet the carpets on which the Persians delicately seat themselves, he was touched with a sense of shame at his own luxury in sight of the simplicity of Agesilaus, and he also without further ceremony seated himself on the bare ground. And first the two bade one another hail, and then Pharnabazus stretched out his right hand and Agesilaus his to meet him, and the conversation began. Pharnabazus, as the elder of the two, spoke first. 'Agesilaus,' he said, 'and all you Lacedaemonians here present, while you were at war with the Athenians I was your friend and ally; it was I who furnished the wealth that made your navy strong on sea; on land I fought on horseback by your side, and pursued your enemies into the sea.[10] As to duplicity like that of Tissaphernes, I challenge you to accuse me of having played you false by word or deed. Such have I ever been; and in return how am I treated by yourselves to-day?--in such sort that I cannot even sup in my own country unless, like the wild animals, I pick up the scraps you chance to leave. The beautiful palaces which my father left me as an heirloom, the parks[11] full of trees and beasts of the chase in which my heart rejoiced, lie before my eyes hacked to pieces, burnt to ashes. Maybe I do not comprehend the first principles of justice and holiness; do you then explain to me how all this resembles the conduct of men who know how to repay a simple debt of gratitude.' He ceased, and the Thirty were ashamed before him and kept silence.[12]
[9] 'Ages.' v. 4; Plut. 'Ages.' xi. (Clough, iv. p. 14).
[10] See 'Hell.' I. i. 6.
[11] Lit. 'paradises.'
[12] Theopompus of Chios, the historian (b. B.C. 378, fl. B.C. 333), 'in the eleventh book [of his {Suntazis Ellenikon}] borrowed Xenophon's lively account of the interview between Agesilaus and Pharnabazus (Apollonius apud Euseb. B, 'Praep. Evang.' p. 465).' See 'Hist. Lit. of Anc. Gr.,' Muller and Donaldson, ii. p. 380.
At length, after some pause, Agesilaus spoke. 'I think you are aware,' he said, 'Pharnabazus, that within the states of Hellas the folk of one community contract relations of friendship and hospitality with one another;[13] but if these states should go to war, then each man will side with his fatherland, and friend will find himself pitted against friend in the field of battle, and, if it so betide, the one may even deal the other his death-blow. So too we to-day, being at war with your sovereign lord the king, must needs regard as our enemy all that he calls his; not but that with yourself personally we should esteem it our high fortune to be friends. If indeed it were merely an exchange of service--were you asked to give up your lord the king and to take us as your masters in his stead, I could not so advise you; but the fact is, by joining with us it is in your power to-day to bow your head to no man, to call no man master, to reap the produce of your own domain in freedom--freedom, which to my mind is more precious than all riches. Not that we bid you to become a beggar for the sake of freedom, but rather to use our friendship to increase not the king's authority, but your own, by subduing those who are your fellow- slaves to-day, and who to-morrow shall be your willing subjects. Well, then, freedom given and wealth added--what more would you desire to fill the cup of happiness to overflowing?' Pharnabazus replied: 'Shall I tell you plainly what I will do?' 'That were but kind and courteous on your part,' he answered. 'Thus it stands with me, then,' said Pharnabazus. 'If the king should send another general, and if he should wish to rank me under this new man's orders, I, for my part, am willing to accept your friendship and alliance; but if he offers me the supreme command--why, then, I plainly tell you, there is a certain something in the very name ambition which whispers me that I shall war against you to the best of my ability.'[14] When he heard that, Agesilaus seized the satrap's hand, exclaiming: 'Ah, best of mortals, may the day arrive which sends us such a friend! Of one thing rest assured. This instant I leave your territory with what haste I may, and for the future--even in case of war--as long as we can find foes elsewhere our hands shall hold aloof from you and yours.'
[13] Or, add, 'we call them guest friends.'
[14] Or, 'so subtle a force, it seems, is the love of honour that.' Grote, 'H. G.' ix. 386; cf. Herod. iii. 57 for 'ambition,' {philotimia}.
And with these words he broke up the meeting. Pharnabazus mounted his horse and rode away, but his son by Parapita, who was still in the bloom of youth, lingered behind; then, running up to Agesilaus, he exclaimed: 'See, I choose you as my friend.' 'And I accept you,' replied the king. 'Remember, then,' the lad answered, and with the word presented the beautiful javelin in his hand to Agesilaus, who received it, and unclasping a splendid trapping [15] which his secretary, Idaeus, had round the neck of his charger, he gave it in return to the youth; whereupon the boy leapt on his horse's back and galloped after his father.[16] At a later date, during the absence of Pharnabazus abroad, this same youth, the son of Parapita, was deprived of the government by his brother and driven into exile. Then Agesilaus took great interest in him, and as he had a strong attachment to the son of Eualces, an Athenian, Agesilaus did all he could to have this friend of his, who was the tallest of the boys, admitted to the two hundred yards race at Olympia.
[15] {phalara}, bosses of gold, silver, or other metals, cast or chased, with some appropriate device in relief, which were worn as an ornamental trapping for horses, affixed to the head-stall or to a throat-collar, or to a martingale over the chest.--Rich's 'Companion to Lat. Dict. and Greek Lex.,' s.v.
[16] See Grote, ix. 387; Plut. 'Ages.' xiv. (Clough, iv. 15); 'Ages.' iii. 5. The incident is idealised in the 'Cyrop.' I. iv. 26 foll. See 'Lyra Heroica': CXXV. A Ballad of East and West--the incident of the 'turqoise-studded rein.'
B.C. 394. But to return to the actual moment. Agesilaus was as good as his word, and at once marched out of the territory of Pharnabazus. The season verged on spring. Reaching the plain of Thebe,[17] he encamped in the neighbourhood of the temple of Artemis of Astyra,[18] and there employed himself in collecting troops from every side, in addition to those which he already had, so as to form a complete armament. These preparations were pressed forward with a view to penetrating as far as possible into the interior. He was persuaded that every tribe or nation placed in his rear might be considered as alienated from the king.
[17] 'Anab.' VII. viii. 7.
[18] Vide Strab. xiii. 606, 613. Seventy stades from Thebe.
II
Such were the concerns and projects of Agesilaus. Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians at home were quite alive to the fact that moneys had been sent into Hellas, and that the bigger states were leagued together to declare war against them. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that Sparta herself was in actual danger, and that a campaign was inevitable. While busy, therefore, with preparations themselves, they lost no time in despatching Epicydidas to
